Washing device for photographs and the like



June 4, 1940. K. DAVIS 2,203,382

WASHING DEVICE FOR PHOTOGRAPHS AND THE LIKE Filed Aug. 19, 1938 AT I'ORNEY UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WASHING DEVIC Applic My invention concerns an paratus for washing or sheet materials with a E FOR- PHOTOGRAPHS AND THE LIKE Lincoln K. Davis, Brockton, Mass.

9 Claims.

improved type of apotherwise treating thin liquid, with special reference to the elimination of undesired chemicals from photographic emulsions and their supports,

such as negatives and paper prints, by

with water.

washing One object of the invention is to maintain a plurality of photographic or other sheets, to be treated simultaneously, separate from one another, so that treatment of each will not be interfered Another object of the with by contact with others.

invention is to effect a thorough washing operation with a minimum use of Water.

A third object is to provide a device which will be small, portable and convenient to operate.

A fourth obj ect is to obviate the necessity of caused by folding, abrasion, ing is in progress.

A still furtherof foreign particles in the material being washed to etc., while the washobject is the prevention of access water supply to the obviate the need of rinsing when the washing operation is completed. Devices have been proposed in the past for keeping such sheets apart general, they are wasteful of w In my device, I accomplish tion of the sheets, but the while washing, but, in

ater, cumbersome,

or otherwise fail to attain the objects I have set forth.

not only the separaother objects stated,

.by providing flexible separators of cloth or other porous sheets to be contact. The separators a preferably at one edge, at

plied in such a manner that each The water is communicated flushed with water.

and absorbent material, to which the treated cling in continuous surface re fastened together which water is sup separator is to the sheet in contact with it and enters and displaces the unwanted chemicals in the sheet. The multiple separators may comprise, in effect,

a book of cloth, the sheets placed between the plied to the bound edge.

easel may be provided to slightly out of a vertical pos to be washed being leaves and water being sup- If desired,.a special maintain the book ition, although it has been found that the sheets being washed have little tendency to fall pended vertically. made for connecting a num the same water supply.

out even Arrangement may also be if the book is susber of these books to ation August 19,

1938, Serial J'No. 225,710

The invention also consists in certain new and original features of construction and combination of parts-hereinafter set forth and claimed.

Although the novel features which are believed to be ticularly pointed out in the claims appended hereto, the inventionitself, as to its objects and advantages, and the manner in which it may be carried out, may' be 'better understood by referr-ing to the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing forming a part thereof, in which- Fig. 1 is a perspectlve'of the cloth book;

"Fig. 2 is a perspective of a special easel designed for holding :the cloth book in inclined position; and

Fig. 3 is an assembly'showing a plurality of books connected together.

Inthe following description and in the claims, various detailswill-be identified by specific names. for convenience, :but they are intended to be as generic, in their application as the art will permit.

Like reference characters denote like-parts in the several'figures of the drawing.

In. the drawing accompanying and forming part of this specification, certain specific disclosure of the inventionds made for purposes of explanation, but it will be understood that the details may be modifiedin various respects without departure from the'broad aspect of the invention.

Referringnow to the drawing, andmore particularlyto-Fig. l, the book! is made of one or more pieces of bibulous cloth, which are looped over a section: of small-pipe or tubing 2, the latter having perforations-3 through which water can pass from the pipe.2 to the cloth book I. The plies of cloth are stitched or stapled together to hold them in place around thepipe 2, as at A. One end of thepipe 2 communicates with a water supply through a hosei, while the other end is fitted witha plug orother closure 6, preferably removable so that two or more washing units may be connected in series. One of the sheets to be washed is indicated by 1, they being placed between the leaves 8 of the book I, as shown. The book maybe of considerable thickness to wash simultaneously a considerable number of sheets.

The material of leaves 8 of book i may be of any suitable flexible and absorbent type, but it must be able to withstand the water or other liquid to be used without deterioration. It should also be free from any tendency to stretch, come apart, or shed lint, and should be thick enough not .only to allow a suitable rate of fluid flow,

characteristic of this invention will be parto the sides ii! to make but to make handling convenient when loading or unloading the wet book with photographs or other sheets.

Linen crash has been found to be a suitable material for leaves 8. Other materials, for example, are woven cloth of heavy rayon or spun glass and synthetic sponge in sheet form. Although the spun glass fiber cloth and linen crash are the best materials known to me at the present time, almost any material may be used which does not deteriorate or contaminate the sheets being treated and which is of a texture capable of conveying the liquid from the supply pipe 2 and bringing it in distributed condition into intimate contact with substantially the entire area of the sheets being treated. The material should be capable of absorbing liquid and conveying it throughout its entire area by capillary action and should be of such texture as to closely cling to the sheets to insure exclusion of air bubbles.

The cloth may be selected from the usual woven types having a warp and a woof, or it may be of the felted type commonly known under the generic term as felt. The fibers of the felt cloth and of the threads of the woven cloth may comprise any of the usual animal or vegetable fibers, such as wool or cotton, or any fibers made synthetically. The threads may also be made up of substantially continuous filamentary strands, such as real silk or any of the artificial silks, namely, rayon, Celanese, etc.

It is preferable to have the selvage edge of the leaves 8 at the bottom. The side edges are the cut edges and should preferably be stitched or cemented to prevent fraying. In the drawing, the lower selvage edges of the cloth leaves 8 are denoted by 28 and the side edges by 2!. The selvage edges 20 do not interfere with the discharge of the contaminated water as much as the hemmed or cemented edges 2|. Hence, the selvage edges are placed at the bottom and the hemmed or cemented edges are placed at the sides to insure uninterrupted fiow of water from the pipe 2 down through the leaves 8 to the bottom.

The leaves 8 should be of moderate thickness to hold and conduct suificient water and also to make handling convenient. It is obvious that very thin leaves would be difiicult to handle. It is desirable also that the threads of woven cloth be fairly soft and the weave moderately loose to insure freedom for the capillary action of the water traveling and spreading throughout the area of the leaves of cloth.

Referring now to Fig. 2, the easel I1 is preferably made of a sheet of metal 9, with bent-up sides lil, which form a shallow trough wide enough to allow the book i to be placed between them. The top of each side Ill has a slot ll engaging the ends of the pipe 2, which project from the sides of the book I, as seen in Fig. 1, so that the book i may be supported in the trough as indicated in Fig. 2. The bottom edge of the metal sheet 9 is turned up, as at 12, and is joined a channel for the contaminated wash water. .An outlet is provided at l3. The easel is supported in an inclined position by a rest M, which may be made of stout wire bent into a U-shape, each upper end being bent inward to form a short hook engaging a hole 85 in the side H], which acts as a bearing. A stop pin it limits backward movement of the rest M so it may hold the easel in convenient inclined position.

Referring now to Fig. 3, several units are shown connected together with a common supply pipe 5. Here the cloth books I are shown hung in their easels l1 and the supply pipe 5 is shown connected to one of the end books. The plugs 6 are removed from all of the books, except the book at the other end and connecting nipples l8 connect the adjacent ends of the pipes 2. This arrangement is desirable, especially for commercial installations where the volume of work may necessitate a number of such rows of books.

In operation, the book I is removed from the easel I1 and thoroughly saturated with Water. Then the sheets or photographs 7 to be washed are laid between the leaves 8. If the sheets are small enough so that there is room for more than one between each pair of leaves, care should be taken to avoid overlapping the sheets. Then the loaded book I is placed in the easel and the water turned on.

Water travels through the pipe 2, through the perforations 3 and divides uniformly among the leaves 8, moving downward through the leaves by capillary action assisted by gravity. As every sheet I is in close and intimate contact, front and back (throughout its entire area) with a leaf 8 which is saturated with water, water gradually enters each sheet and displaces the undesired chemicals, which are flushed out and downward, out of the book. This process is allowed to continue for an hour, more or less, depending on the character of the material being washed, and at the end of a suitable time, it will be found that the displacement is complete, the unwanted chemicals having disappeared entirely from the sheets and also from the book. The sheets 1 are then removed for drying, when the washer is ready for use again, or it may be set aside to drain and dry.

Thus a washing device has been described which is simple in construction, inexpensive to manufacture, easy to operate and economical to use. The water consumption is at a minimum since it flows past each sheet only fast enough to equal the rate of outward diffusion of the undesired substances from the sheet. Water consumption may be, in general. only about onetenth of that required to wash photographic negatives and prints by ordinary methods.

There are no critical adjustments, it being only necessary to insert the sheets to be washed between the leaves of the book. The leaves of the book, being of cloth, paper or similar soft material capable of holding water, directly contact the sheets and, in effect, apply to the sheets continuous films of water which continually changes as the water runs through the book from top to bottom. The fibrous texture of the material of the leaves provides a filtering action which prevents any small particles in the water supply from contaminating the sheets being treated.

It is contemplated that the above described apparatus may be used for treating thin materials with liquids other than water, as for ex ample, with photographic hypo, developer, etc. Ifthe cloth leaves 8 are of suificient liquid holding and retaining capacity, the book may be soaked in hypo, and then the photographs to be fixed inserted betwen the leaves, when fixing will take place without the need of supplying more of the hypo. It is apparent that after fixing in this manner, washing or other steps may be carried out without further handling of the photographs.

The water or other treating liquid may be supplied from a pressure main to pipe 5, or it may be applied by siphoning from a vessel located above the washer through a tube, hose, wick, etc., to any edge of the book.

While certain novel features of the invention have been disclosed and are pointed out in the annexed claims, it will be understood that various omissions, substitutions and changes may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention.

What is claimed is:

l. A treating device for photographic sheets and the like, comprising a pile of leaves, a binding for said leaves to form a book, a sipply pipe incorporated in said binding for supplying l guid to said leaves, the photographic sheets or the like being placed between said leaves in direct contact therewith, said leaves conducting liquid, parallel to the planes thereof, by capillary action into intimate contact with all parts of the photographic sheets and the like.

2. In combination, a washer for photographic sheets and the like, comprising a book adapted to have photographic sheets or the like placed between the leaves thereof, said book having a supply pipe incorporated in the binding thereof, an easel comprising a back plate and side plates and having an open face, said back plate having trough at the lower end thereof, said book resting against said back plate between said side plates and discharging contaminated liquid into said trough.

3. In a treating device for photographic sheets and the like, a book whose leaves are made up of a pile of absorbent sheets, a binding holding said pile together along one edge, the leaves otherwise being separable to permit insertion and removal of said photographic sheets, a liquid supply conduit associated with said binding, a stiff plate forming a backing for the book, and means for supporting said backing and said leaves out of a horizontal plane with said binding at the top of the book and said leaves resting against said plate, whereby liquid entering said conduit flows downwardly through said leaves without disturbing the adherence of said leaves to each other and to the interposed photographic sheets.

4. In a treating device for photographic sheets and the like, a book whose leaves are made up of a pile of absorbent sheets, a binding holding said pile together along one edge, the leaves otherwise being separable to permit insertion and removal of said photographic sheets, a liquidsupply conduit associated with said binding, and means supporting said book with said binding at the top, whereby liquid entering said conduit flows downwardly through said leaves without disturbing the adherence of said leaves to each other and to the interposed photographic sheets.

5. In a washer for photographs and the like, a book comprising a pile of leaves of bibulous fabric and a binding to hold said leaves together along one edge, the leaves being flexible and separable to permit insertion and removal of photographs, a liquid-supplying device associated with said binding, said fabric having the property of transmitting liquid in its plane from said binding into intimate contact with all parts of said photographs.

6. In a treating device for photographic sheets and the like, a book of leaves made up of a pile of substantially rectangular absorbent cloth sheets folded over on themselves and forming a single, multiple layer 'bight, a perforated pipe disposed within the innermost layer of said bight, a binding holding said bight around said pipe, a

stiil? plate forming a backing for the book, and. 1

means for supporting said backing and said leaves out of a horizontal plane with said bight at the top of the book and said leaves resting against said plate, whereby liquid entering said pipe flows downwardly through said leaves without disturbing the adherence of said leaves to each other and to the interposed photographic sheets.

'7. In a washer for photographs and the like,

a book comprising a pile of leaves of bibulous fabric and a binding to hold said leaves together along a limited portion of the edges thereof, said leaves being flexible and separable to permit insertion and removal of said photographs, means for supporting said book with one margin higher than the rest of the book, and a liquid-supplying device for supplying liquid to said margin, said fabric transmitting said liquid in its plane into intimate contact with all parts of said photographs and thereby carrying away waste chem- A icals from said photographs.

8. In a washer for photographs and the like, a relatively stiff backing member, a pile of leaves of bibulous flexible fabric resting on said back ing member, member and pile of leaves in assembled relation with the leaves readily accessible and separable to permit the ready insertion and removal of said photographs, means for supporting said backing member and pile of leaves in inclined position resting on a horizontal support, and a liquidsupply device for supplying liquid to the upper margin of said leaves, the fabric transmitting said liquid downwardly in its plane into intimate contact with all parts of said photographs and thereby carrying away waste chemicals from said photographs.

9. In a washer for photographs and the like, a pile of leaves of bibulous, relatively flexible fabric, means for supplying washing liquid to a margin of said pile of leaves, the fabric transmitting said liquid in its plane into intimate contact with all parts of the photographs interposed between said leaves, thereby carrying away waste chemicals from said photographs, a relatively stiff, open face backing member, and means for supporting said pile of leaves on said backing memher so as to utilize the tendency of the wet leaves to cling to said photographs and to each other to maintain said leaves and photographs in assembled relation during washing while permitting said leaves to be readily separable and freely accessible for the insertion and removal of said photographs.

LINCOLN K. DAVIS. 

